


Things We Lost

by orphan_account



Series: Family Doesn't End in Blood [2]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Dad Bruce Wayne, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Jason Todd Angst, Jason Todd is Red Hood, Not A Fix-It, Not Happy, PROTECT THEM, Stephanie Brown is Spoiler, and im not sorry, but i literally am incapable of writing fluff oops, i was meant to write fluff, the goddamn title is a pun, this girl is on fireee, too soon?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 07:31:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12228387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: It’s the second time there was one of Bruce’s sidekicks trapped in a burning building, injured and their only company some psycho, he thought.The only difference is, Batman didn’t run out of time in this one.Or,Steph's always had a talent for drastically misreading situations.





	Things We Lost

**Author's Note:**

> I wanna start by thanking all of you for the support on The Hardest Ones To Break! I am so grateful to everyone who Kudos'd, commented, or even bookmarked, it really helped motivate me to get this one out too! Hope you enjoy!

Steph’s legs dangled off the edge of the building, a cool breeze blowing her hair out around her head.

She should really have been patrolling, but Duke and Damian had the majority of Gotham covered. Her area was peaceful tonight, mostly. She’d stopped some guy from getting mugged, and some jackass had been shoplifting, but that was it mostly. 

 

It should’ve been Harper’s turn to patrol tonight, but her and Steph had swapped some nights. She’d had no clue why until she realised she now had all the nights Harper should’ve had with Jason, and the other girl now had none. She didn’t really know how to feel about it- one one hand, Steph knew Jason would never have hurt any of his friends on purpose, and that he’d gone to Bluebird’s apartment to tell her, but she couldn’t blame Harper for being spooked. That, and she didn’t really know if they were Jason’s ‘friends’ anymore.

Either way, she’d try and talk to one of them about it before it turned into a problem, or before  _ Bruce _ tried to deal with it.

Bruce was a good man. He was a good batman, too, but emotions? He wasn’t too good with those. Then again, neither was she, but Steph’s feelings were always too loud, too much, and Bruce was the complete opposite. He hid his. She had no idea how he managed, to be honest.

It was something she was trying to work out, though. Recently, she’d been finding it hard to keep her normal life and her life as a vigilante separate, bleeding into each other like wet ink.

She was starting to have difficulty keeping the two sides of  _ herself _ away from each other. She had almost left the house wearing her Spoiler costume, just because of how natural it had felt. At school, someone had shoved Tim and she’d judo-flipped them, forgetting that wasn’t something that tended to be common knowledge amongst regular high-school students. 

Stephanie Brown and Spoiler were like two vicious dogs in her mind, constantly snapping at each other. She felt like she was struggling to hold on to their leashes, keep them away from each other, because if they touched? Steph didn’t know what would happen, but she had a feeling it was bad.

 

A blaring siren followed by a gunshot startled her out of her thoughts, and she cursed herself for not paying more attention. Scrambling to her feet, Steph fumbled for her grappler in her belt and ran across the edge of the roof, leaping forwards when she ran out of surface.

Her stomach flipped as she free-fell, even if it was only for a few seconds, and just before she became a stain on the street corner, she shot a wire out of her gun, swinging across and racing across the ledge of the opposite building to where she had heard the siren. Her heart pounded as she got closer and realised it was an alarm.

 

Smoke billowed out of the shop window as Stephanie turned the corner, and her heart almost stilled thinking she’d mistaken something else as a  gunshot, and this was just a run-of-the-mill fire (Which was a pretty fucked-up phrase for a seventeen year old to be saying) until the screaming started (which was also a messed up phrase for a seventeen year old to be saying). She threw open the door, covering her mouth and nose with her cape. It seemed like the fire was further into the building, and the closer Steph got the more heat wafting out, wrapping around her, and she could barely see through the smoke that was slowly filling up the building. Slowly but surely.

As she reached the corridor, she could hear grunts, and sounds of a fight through one of the doors, and her hand instinctively flew to the blade strapped at her side. Usually, she’d rarely use it, and then only for emergencies, but this qualified to her.

Steph kicked the door in, and whipped out the blade, holding it out in front of her carefully. She looked up, coughing slightly as she found the source of all the smoke, and blinked in surprise as she saw Jason- no, Red Hood- standing over an unarmed man, gun pointed at his head. They were standing in some kind of storage room, and there was blood leaking from the man’s mouth. Jason’s helmet was on, and  _ Jesus _ did it look terrifying, the fire painting a morbid silhouette.

“Are you insane?” She screeched, instantly regretting it as bitter smoke stung her mouth, and lunged forwards, knocking the gun out of his hands and tackling him to the floor. He kicked out, landing a hit on her jaw, and Steph recoiled. He had his mask on, which probably automatically filtered out smoke, so he had the advantage over her, but she refused to let that stop her. All she could do was hope the man had the good sense to escape while she held Jason off. 

“Why?” Steph catches Jason with a forearm as he staggered towards her, and knocked him flat down, but he pulled her leg out from under her sending her toppling down. Hand gripping the wall, she pulled herself to her feet. “You  _ promised, _ Jason. You promised not to-”

Jason ripped his helmet away, and Steph’s heart hammered as his eyes met hers. They widened with panic, and her words died in her throat.

“Steph,  _ watch out- _ ”

Something big, something  _ heavy, _ caught her around her waist and she crashed to the ground, head cracking sickeningly against the floor. Air flew out of her lungs as she tried to cough up smoke, but the fall had already knocked the air out of her lungs.

The man from before- the one Jason had been trying to shoot- was on top of her, and  _ oh, of course he had a knife. _ She weakly wriggled away as he slammed the blade down, missing her head by a tiny amount, but severing a chunk of hair.

She just needed to activate the sensors on her suit and that would be enough to blast this creep away, but Stephanie was rapidly running out of breath, and her vision fizzed like champagne.

Her hand dragged across the floor, and her hand limply ran across the belt looking for the button. The man raised the knife above his head, and-

_ Bingo. _

Crackling filled her ears, drowning out the roaring of the fire, and he yelled as blue arced across his body. Steph dragged herself further away, propping up against a shelf and recovering the lower half of her face with the cloak. She only hoped it did enough, but her breaths still came in shuddering gasps that used up oxygen that she didn’t have.

Black ate away at her vision, and she saw Jason with the man, pinning him against the wall, and there was blood flying everywhere, and his fist just kept smashing into the guy’s face.

“Jay- stop-” Steph croaked out, but her body failed her and she couldn’t see, and she couldn’t move and oh  _ God, _ she couldn’t breathe, and she was going to die. 

Steph was going to die. 

 

-

 

At first, Dick was pissed off when the comm started beeping rapidly, signalling a message.

“You should probably get that.” Babs whispered, laughing, and he could feel her breath on his skin.

“No, no it’s fine.” His voice was low, and he ran his thumb over the soft skin of her hand.

“Dick, I’m serious.” He loved her laugh, even when it was directed at him- no,  _ especially _ when it was at him. He loved her wonky smile and the way the corners of her eyes crinkled.

“It can wait.”

“ _ Dick.”  _ Her hands were on his chest already, but she lightly pushed him and pulled herself upright, sitting up on the bed. “If you don’t get it, I will,  _ Nightwing. _ ” and that was that. Whenever Babs used his code name, it was a signal she was getting pissed and to do whatever the hell she was telling you to do.

“Fine, fine.” Dick got up, pulling his shirt back on, and decided he was going to punch whoever was calling if it wasn’t of the utmost importance. Grinning back at Babs, who’d pulled her shirt back on as well, he lazily pressed the red button, connecting him to whoever was calling.

“Gotham sperm bank, you jack it, we pack it. How may I assist you?”

“Dick!” Barbara burst out laughing, her cheeks turning red. The smile faded from her face as the voice crackled through the speakers.

“This is Red Hood, requesting immediate pickup from- ah, screw this, Dick? It’s Jay, Steph’s hurt. You need to help, now. I’m sending you the address now.”

A location pops up on the computer screen, and Dick looked over. “Gotham sweet shop? Jason, what the hell?” but the comm line’s gone silent. 

“I’ll get Bruce.”

Dick gives her a nod as a way of agreement, and hurries down to the batcave.

 

By the time they arrive at the scene, Dick’s run through a million of the worst possibilities over and over in his head. Steph, dead. Jason, dead. Steph and Jason, both dead. The list went on, and Dick was beginning to loathe his overactive imagination.

Jason’s bent over Steph, who’s seemingly unconscious, and his head jerks up when he sees them coming.

“Took you long enough.”

“We’re here now.” Bruce bends down by Stephanie, her eyelids fluttering, and Jason stands besides Dick.

“Since when are you taller than me?”

“Since a long time, Grayson.”

“Unfair.”

There’s an awkward silence, and he can feel his little brother stiffen, as if he’s about to go.

“What happened here, Jay?” The question that’s been eating away at him ever since he got the call. Jason clears his throat and looks straight ahead, avoiding Dick’s stare.

“Turns out the oh-so-innocent sweet shop manager was kidnapping kids who came by on their own.” A muscle jumps in his jaw. “I freed ‘em, and he lights the place up. Steph came in, and, uh- well, she misread the situation a little bit, let’s leave it at that.”

Dick looks back down at his feet.

“What happened to the man, Jay?”

Silence.

Oh, no. For god’s sake.

“Jason.”

Dick’s cut off as Stephanie’s back arches, and she starts choking, eyes wide open.

“Bruce? Dick?” Her voice is frantic, and Dick rushes over, dropping to the floor by her.

“You’re alright, it’s okay.” and it’s the second time he’s been holding a dying teenager and saying the exact same words, and both times his brother’s been involved. 

Dick looks up, and there’s a part of him that’s disappointed when he sees Jason’s gone, and another part saying  _ well, what did you expect? _

 

-

 

Jason barely made it to his apartment before his legs gave out, and he knew it wasn’t entirely from the fight.

 

It’s the second time there was one of Bruce’s sidekicks trapped in a burning building, injured and their only company some psycho.

 

The only difference is, Batman didn’t run out of time in this one.

**Author's Note:**

> ...so the title was a really morbid pun  
>  hope y'all enjoyed this one, i've been having a lot of ideas about what i want to write in terms of this series which i rarely get, so im making the most out of it lmao.  
> please leave a comment if you enjoyed, they brighten my day and make me write faster so that's more fics i can make. it also helps me know what you guys wanna see next, so, if you've got something in particular (a character etc) tell me and i might write it! :)


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